Heaven is a Place on Earth

Summary:

He would have thought that him needing a park or just some space every once in a while was weird, but the day he showed up there and Fraser was sitting on the bench? Even more weird.

Work Text:

Eventually, Ray found out that there's this park near his apartment, and sometimes after a long day at the precinct when he can't think anymore and when he closes his eyes he sees too much stuff that give him the shivers,

--kids crouched in corners with old eyes, not needing to ask if their mommy was okay, the spatter of blood caught on brick walls after a drug deal gone terribly wrong, and womenkidsmen who just can't stop sobbing--

he has to walk, which definitely means he's been hanging out with Fraser to much, because Ray Kowalski? Spending time in a park? By choice? Weird.

He would have thought that him needing a park or just some space every once in a while was weird, but the day he showed up there and Fraser was sitting on the bench? Even more weird.

"Hey, Frase." Ray drops onto the bench next to him, and whatever happy glow that starts in his chest and moves out must be because it's his bench, and because of course Fraser would find him here, Fraser was a freak.

"Ray," Fraser says, and then they both just look out at the park, which for once doesn't have dealers or druggies or gang kids hanging around but is just quiet, the hush of almost after-sunset where the ground sort of fuzzes into the trees and the clouds.

"Funny how it all... mashes together, huh?" Ray says, and realizes that he's not just talking about the park and the trees and all that shit, but that it's like life has all mixed, muddled into the shiver he got after hearing gunshots and how similar it was to the twitch when Fraser stepped in too close.

Fraser moves, sounds like he swallows--and that Ray is listening that closely is kind of weird, which is really kind of normal for them, all on its own-- and says, "You know, Ray, my father once told me that the sky isn't just above you, that if you look at the horizon you'll see that it actually touches the ground. So if you think about it, wherever you go, you are actually walking in the sky."

"You think?" Ray says quietly, feeling the faint breeze that actually smells clean here, the way the sun colors the clouds, clouds so big that it looks like you could reach out and touch them.